Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Chunghwa Telecom Switches to Ericsson for IPTV

Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom has selected Ericsson to deploy a new IPTV system for its 900,000 subscribers. The new platform will replace Chunghwa's existing IPTV system and respond to a growing demand from consumers for content anywhere, any time on a wide range of devices including TVs, computers, smartphones and tablets. The deal also includes Ericsson Multiscreen TV and the Ericsson Media Connect (IPTV Remote) service. The new services are due to be available to subscribers in December of this year. Financial terms were not disclosed.
http://www.ericsson.com

TI Trims Q3 Outlook

Texas Instruments narrowed and lowered its expected ranges for revenue and earnings per share (EPS) for Q3, saying it now expects revenue in the range of $3.23 – 3.37 billion, compared with the prior range of $3.40 – 3.70 billion. The company cited lower demand across a wide range of products, markets and customers.
http://www.ti.com

ZTE Develops 4-Path TD-LTE with 40MHz Channels

ZTE introduced the first 4-path TD-LTE Remote Radio Unit (RRU) that operates at a bandwidth of 40MHz and transmits with a power of 80W. The new high-power, large-capacity RRU supports 2x20MHz TD-LTE carriers and 80W (20W x 4 paths) of transmission power.


ZTE said these capabilities will increase edge frequency efficiency by more than 30 percent. It also increases network coverage and reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by supporting two carriers and reducing the number of base station devices needed by operators. The RRU can also be upgraded to support LTE-A in the future.
http://www.zte.com.cn

NTT Docomo Offers New LTE Billing Plans, GALAXY Tablets

NTT DOCOMO is introducing new billing plans for its Xi (read 'Crossy') LTE service beginning next month. The carrier will offer a flat-rate plan suited to heavy data users and a new two-tiered plan that allows moderate data users to pay as they go up to a set limit. Both plans will be available either with or without two-year contracts.


Specially discounted introductory rates will be offered for all plans. For example, the flat-rate data plan with a two-year contract, called the “Xi Two-Year Data Plan FLAT,�? will be available for 4,410 yen (including tax) per month through April 2012, compared to the regular rate of 5,985 yen thereafter.


Through September of next year, all downlinks will be offered at a max. 75 Mbps. From October 2012, downlink rates for users who exceed 7GB of data will be reduced to a max. 128 Kbps for the remainder of that month. Continued service at a max. 75 Mbps will be available, however, for an additional charge of 2,625 yen (including tax) per each additional 2GB of data.


In addition, NTT Docomo will begin selling its first two LTE tablets next month: the "docomo Tablet GALAXY Tab 10.1 LTE SC-01D" and the "docomo Tablet ARROWS Tab LTE F-01D". Both tablets feature large 10.1-inch displays and are powered by dual core CPUs running on Android 3.2. http://www.nttdocomo.com

Vendors Test Shortest Path Bridging (802.1aq) Interoperability

The industry's first large-scale, multi-vendor interoperability test leveraging IEEE 802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) technology was recently completed by leading vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Huawei, Solana Networks and Spirent Communications.


SPB allows customers to greatly simplify how they create and configure networks -- across the enterprise and for the cloud -- by requiring service provisioning only at the edge of the network. It uses Intermediate System To Intermediate System (IS-IS), a proven carrier-grade link state protocol, to dynamically build the topology between network nodes, saving network administrators time and effort, and virtually eliminating human error.


The interoperability test simulated a large network environment of almost 200 nodes and more than 400 links. It demonstrated full control plane interoperability between each vendor's equipment, native network discovery in a multi-vendor network and Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) interoperabilityhttp://www.avaya.com http://www.alcatel-lucent.com

Qosmos Raises EUR 19.8 Million for DPI Network Intelligence Tools

Qosmos, a start-up based in Paris, raised EUR 19.8 million (US$28.5 million) for its Deep Packet Inspection (DPI)- based Network Intelligence (NI) technology.


Qosmos' ixEngine provides visibility into data crossing wireless networks by identifying, extracting and querying specific information. The ixEngine offers recognition for hundreds of protocols, and captures thousands of metadata and protocol attributes. The data can then be applied to lawful interception, cyber security, traffic optimization, policy management, service assurance, market research and network and data security. Qosmos' customers are Network Equipment Providers, Software Vendors and Systems Integrators in the telecom, networking and cybersecurity markets.


The round was co-led by leading European venture firm DFJ Esprit, Fonds Stratégique d'Investissements (FSI) and Alven Capital. The deal is a combination of primary equity and debt plus a secondary purchase of former investor Sofinnova's stake in the company by the three named companies. http://www.qosmos.com

  • Qosmos was established in 2000 by members of the LIP6 Computer Research Laboratory in Paris.

ADVA's 100G Metro Blade is Competitive with 10x 10G

ADVA Optical Networking introduced a 100G Metro blade for its FSP 3000 DWDM platform promising competitive pricing compared with 10x 10G solutions. The new solution offers efficient 100 Gbps data transport across distances of up to 500km for service providers or large enterprises.


The foundation of ADVA's compact 100G Metro blade is in its non-coherent 4x28G technology: The company highlights four key efficiencies:


Cost Efficiency – Cost competitive with 10 lanes of 10G, the 100G Metro solution offers the lowest cost-per-bit transport available and immediately reduces network costs and expenditures from day one. This cost reduction guarantees lowest operational cost in all data center and metro network applications.


Space Efficiency – The 100G Metro solution's compact design consumes a fraction of the space of today's 10G devices, requiring less rack and floor space per bit thanestablished solutions. Since the ADVA 100G Metro solution consumes less space than 10 lanes of 10GE, users will not need to make any additional space in already overcrowded data centers when upgrading to higher spectral efficiency.


Power Efficiency – With low power consumption and miniscule heat dissipation, enterprises and carriers simultaneously reduce costs and operating expenditures while upgrading to 100G transport.


Spectral Efficiency - The 100G Metro solution outperforms the spectral efficiency ofexisting 10G solutions. Carriers and enterprises can more than double the capacity of their existing optical networks, thus protecting their network investment and extending the lifetime of their existing infrastructure.


"Today's metro networks are rapidly reaching capacity. Service providers and enterprises are struggling to transport the enormous amounts of data required and this could seriously impact business operations," commented Christoph Glingener, chief technology officer of ADVA Optical Networking. "100G is the only solution to this problem, but it needs to be developed throughout the entire network, not just in the long haul. Our 100G Metro is the first solution on the market to address this issue, enabling our customers to meet their business expectations." http://www.advaoptical.com